Red Leaf High (AU)
by LiddoAiren
Summary: I just don't understand it. Everything is in reverse. People who exist now aren't supposed to exist anymore, and people who don't exist anymore are existing now. Also, some of my friends are no longer my friends. This isn't how it's supposed to be. If that's the case, then what is supposed to be? Well, I'll think about that later. Right now, is a fresh start. Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

"**Trường...Trường ơi...dậy đi con. Dậy đi**." (Aaron…Aaron…wake up, honey. Wake up)

It's dark…

Why is it so dark? Who is calling me? Why are they calling me? Why does the voice only sound vaguely familiar? Why does it sound like a woman? Why does my body feel hurt all over? Where am I?

Slowly, I opened my eyes. Looking around I immediately realized that something was different. I could recognize my room, the smell of the house, and the feeling of my bed. However, these were not what were different. What was different was the person, apparently a woman, who was standing over me, waking me up.

"You've finally opened your eyes. Honestly, I was beginning to worry that you died in your sleep." She said.

"_What?!"_I thought.

"Now get up and get yourself dressed. You'll be late for school." She said.

"**Mẹ?!"**(Mom?!)

"What?" she asked, almost casually. It was as if nothing had happened over the past eight years.

"Are you shocked at my beauty? I wouldn't be surprised. Even I'm shocked at myself from time to time. I turned out well don't you think?" she laughed, as she began to walk out of my room.

"Why are you even here?" I whispered. I couldn't believe it. How could she have come back from the dead? What happened?

She sighed exasperatedly, "Why do you think? I'm here to wake you up! Now are you going to just stand there like a log or are you going to get yourself ready?"

"Why are you even alive?" I asked her.

…

I received no answer from her. It was as if she didn't hear me at all.

"_Just what is going on?"_This just didn't make sense. The way mom was acting resembled that of having been with us forever, and that itself was impossible, for she died almost seven years ago, after she had given birth to Rose.

"_Speaking of Rose, just where is she?" _I wondered. Just then, mom walked back into my room.

"Oh, and honey, before you do anything else, make sure to wake up your sister." She said.

"O-oh, uh…alright. Will do."

"_Whaaaattttt? Rose actually is waking up late today?" _Okaaayyyy, seriously. What the heck is going on here? Rose NEVER wakes up late. I walked to Rose's room and knocked on her door, but I received no response.

"Rose? Are you there?" I asked.

Still, I received no answer, so I just opened the door and walked in…

Only to see nobody inside. Not even Rose herself was in the room.

"Rooosssee?" I called, "Where are yooouuuuu?" As I walked through her room, I saw that at least everything in her room was the same. Her pink queen-sized bed, her different colored hair-ties, her stories, everything.

"_Well, at least one thing hasn't changed…"_I thought. Suddenly, I felt a huge weight force itself on my back.

"Boo!" a familiar voice yelled.

"Gah!" I fell forward, caught off guard by the unexpected weight.

"Hehehe! Did I scare you, **anh hai?**" (Big Brother)

"Scare me? No way. You just surprised me. That's all. What do you think you're doing, pretending to wake up late?" I asked.

"Awwww, I wanted to scare you." She whined.

"Well, now that you're up, you should head to the kitchen and have breakfast." I said.

"Okay!"

"Ah, wait! Rose! One more thing."

"What?" she asked.

"Did you know that we have a mom now?"

Rose just looked at me as if I was crazy. "Duuuhhhh! **Anh hai**, she's been with us forever!"

"Oh, uh…really?"

"_WHAAAAAAAAAAATTTT?! THAT'S IMPOSSIBRUUUUU!_"

"Are you sure?" I asked her one more time.

"Yes!" Rose replied, "**Anh hai**, are you okay? Do you have that thing in your head? You know…am…ameza?"

"You mean amnesia?"

"Yeah! You forgot everything?"

"No, of course not." I replied, "I'm just a little…loopy. Yeah, loopy."

"Oooookaayyyyy, whatever you say." Rose then headed to the kitchen.

"_Well, now that she's awake, I might as well head down to the kitchen too."_

As I made my way down to the kitchen, I recognized the similar structure of the house. Every window, mirror, ever wall, every room.

"_Good. At least I know that I'm not going crazy. At least I don't think so…"_

Upon reaching the kitchen, I saw both Rose and mom at the dining table, with Rose eating her cereal and mom using her laptop while wearing what looked like a court dress over her work attire.

"Good morning, **con**" she said, as she spotted me, "What would you like for breakfast?"

"_I seriously have to get used to hearing her voice again. Man, I seriously missed it."_

"Oh, I'll just have a toast and eggs. Do we have a frying pan?" I asked.

"Yes, but what do you need it for?" mom asked.

"I'm gonna use it to fry my egg of course!" I replied, "Or would you rather have me use something else to fry an egg?"

"You…know how to cook?"

Hearing that threw me off a little. Did she not remember teaching me? It was only because of her that I was able to cook.

"Yeah, I mean, you're the one who taught me how to cook." I said.

"I...am? Oh well, if you know what you're doing than I guess it's okay…"

So I started to fry the egg with the pan that mom gave me. While frying, about a million things were going on in my head.

"_Why doesn't mom remember teaching me how to cook? Where has she been this whole time? Why did she suddenly just show up now? Why did Rose say that she's been with us forever when in truth she hasn't? And come to think of it, where's dad? I seriously have to know what he has to say about this. Meh, all of this can come later. The food's ready."_

I mostly ate my breakfast in silence, still pondering about what was going on. Looking at Rose and mom, I saw that they were getting along well. Mom was stroking her hair while she finished her food.

"_They're getting along well. Almost too well. This relationship would be impossible if mom had showed up even just a few days ago…but then, if that's the case, then what is going on?"_

As I finished my breakfast and washed my hands, I finally decided to ask one of the big questions that was bugging me.

"Hey mom, where's dad?"

She then looked at me for a while, like she was trying to figure out what was going on in my head.

"**Trường...con có bị sao không?**" (Aaron, what's wrong with you?)

"**Tại sao mẹ hỏi?**" (Why do you ask?)

"**Trường ơi...ba chết lâu rồi. Khoảng** **bảy**** năm rồi."** (Aaron…dad died a long time ago. He died almost seven years ago.)

"Eh?"

"_WHAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT?! Man, I really should stop doing this…"_

"Aaron, how could you forget? You've been living without one for almost seven years. It's been like this after your father…he…***sniff***" Mom put a hand over her mouth.

"_Oh man, she's crying! Think fast, Aaron! What did dad do when he comforted mom while she was still alive! Or wait…"_

I did the best thing that I could do, which was hug mom.

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I brought up such a sensitive topic. I'm probably just a little loopy, that's all. Sorry. Are you okay?"

It took a while for her to settle down, but she eventually did, which made me relax a bit.

"***Sniff*…*Huff*…**Yes. **Cảm ơn con. **Now you should really change into your school uniform. Also, hurry up. Don't embarrass yourself on the first day of school." (…Thank you, honey…)

"_What?! First day of…you know what? Forget it. I'll figure everything out by the end of the day…I hope."_

I ran back upstairs to my room and saw my uniform already set on my desk.

"Huh…it's not the same uniform." The white dress shirt and the straight-fit jeans were the same, but what was different was the uniform coat and tie. Well, it wasn't really a coat, it was actually a black sweater vest, and the tie was red instead of black. I also recognized a different school symbol located on the vest on the left of the chest area, which read "Red Leaf High School."

"_Red Leaf High, huh? So I go to a different school now too."_

As I put on my uniform, I immediately felt the sharp pains return to my body, mostly on my back.

"Ow! Seriously, where did these pains come from?" then I remembered what had happened to me before mom woke me up. "Oh, right. Man, I was beaten so bad that I thought I was gonna die! If that's the case, then…who the heck brought me here? Meh, I'll think about this later."

After I had finished changing, I looked at myself in the mirror.

"_Nothing much has really changed about me either. My hair's back to its 'Metro', style, but I'm still not fat like how I was back then. Whew! Though I have to say, I like my new look with this new uniform."_

"Well, from what I know, it seems like today will be another fresh start. Alright then, let's make it count like always."


	2. The (First) Day

**Here's the second chapter of my AU. It is as of now that the story cannot move on without the input of readers, so please review! Especially for the previous chapter! I got none for that one :(**

**Aside from making Aaron's choices, you can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

***NOTE: This AU will focus more on the extracurricular aspects of school, like sports, clubs, etc. There will be some educational aspects, just not a lot.**

* * *

"All right, I'm heading to school now," I said, as I tied my shoelaces, "Bye guys, I'll see you guys later!"

"Wait, Aaron!" Mom suddenly dashed over to me, "where do you think you're going?'

"Uh…I'm pretty sure I'm going to school. Why?" I asked.

"Do you even know where your school is?"

"Yeah, of course I-" and then it hit me.

"_Oh wait, shoot. I forgot I don't go to Maplestory High anymore. I go to Red Leaf High now, and I don't even know where that is…argh."_

"uhh…wait, no I don't." I scratched my head.

Mom just sighed in response, "**Trời ơi con ơi**. Of course you don't! You've never even seen it before! Well, hop into the car. Let me help Rose pack her things and I'll drive you there." (Oh my goodness honey…)

Red Leaf High was only a few blocks away from home, and I saw its buildings stand high above me, just like Maplestory High.

"Here you are, your new school."

"Great. Thanks, mom." I opened the car door and inhaled some fresh air.

"So is that it? You're just going to leave?" she asked, "No good-bye kiss or hug?"

I almost chuckled. "Well, it depends on which one you want. The kiss or the hug?"

"How about both?"

"Okay, okay."

After mom had gotten out of the driver's seat of the car, I walked over to her and wrapped her in my arms, while giving her a kiss on top of her head, for her height only reached up to the lower part of my chest.

"Oh come now, that was weak. Are you embarrassed to be seen kissing your mother in public?" she asked.

"Well, yeah! People usually don't do this in public so…" Truthfully, I never felt so happy in my life. The fact that mom was back and still the same. Her smell, her looks, everything about her. I didn't mind giving her another hug or kiss.

"Come on now, that's no excuse. Man up next time! Anyway, school's about to start soon, so you should head to class. I put your schedule and map in your bag just in case you forgot, and if you need anything, call me okay? Make lots of friends!" With that, mom got back into the car and drove away. Before she was out of sight, I saw Rose stick her head out of the back seat and wave at me. I waved back.

"It feels so surreal…" I shook my head "whether it's surreal or not, I'll figure out later. Right now, I gotta focus on my new school."

As I walked through the school's black gates, I took in my surroundings. At the front of the school was a sign that read: _Welcome to Read Leaf High School, Home of the Pillars of Heaven._ Behind the black gates were tall red buildings, club advertisements, and an overall beautiful campus with tall trees and grassland along the sides of the pathways. If anything, Red Leaf high was close to if not as beautiful as Maplestory High itself. Suddenly, the school microphones blared.

"_ATTENTION RED LEAF HIGH! GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME TO THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR! THIS IS A REMINDER FOR ALL FRESHMEN TO PLEASE HEAD TO THE AUDITORIUM, AGAIN ALL FRESHMEN PLEASE HEAD TO THE AUDITORIUM."_

Freshmen to the auditorium, huh? Welp, to the auditorium we go. Since I had no idea where the auditorium was, I just followed the students whom I thought were freshmen to a giant building in the middle of the school, this time alone. No person tapping on me for directions, nothing.

"_Man, I'm getting a weird sense of déjà vu, except something's missing...or maybe someone's missing."_

Upon entering the auditorium, I was met with a warm breeze and a welcome from some upper classmen. In the auditorium were rows and rows of red-cushioned seats, a really high ceiling, and a huge stage covered by two red curtains with outlines of Rosette leaves. Like before, I sat in the middle seat of the middle row, this time alone. Although other students took the seats adjacent to mine, I made no effort to say hello, for there were too many things going inside my head, and I wasn't really sure whether saying "hello" would be a good choice given my state of mind.

Soon, the nearly all of the lights in the auditorium were off, save for the lights on the stage itself. A few seconds later, a man and a woman stepped out from behind the curtains. Both had their hair tied up, both had a clipboard wrapped under their left arms, and both held very imposing looks, as if they were staring right into your soul. The woman then tapped on the microphone twice before speaking.

"Good morning everyone, and welcome to Red Leaf High School. My name is Mrs. Kumi, but I'd rather you call me Boss Kumi since that's what I'll be for your next four years at this school." She said. Then the man walked up to the microphone.

"And I am Mr. Nobunaga, your vice principal, although I do take the responsibilities of a vice principal, I am also a teacher here. Now, as I'm sure you're aware, Red Leaf High School is a rather new school. It was built only a few years ago, and already it is rated as one of the best schools in the entire District. Because of this, I, Boss Kumi, and all of the heads at this school take great pride in the school we're in now, and absolutely will not tolerate any actions that tarnish the school's reputation. In other words, you break the rules, we break your necks. Not literally, but you get the point."

Mr. Nobunaga then stepped back to let Boss Kumi take the microphone to let her explain why the school had uniforms, and which buildings corresponded to which subject. It was almost the exact same presentation as Ms. Alicia's during the first day at Maplestory High, except the subject-building order was in reverse. This time, Science classes were in the 500 buildings, History classes were the 400's, and so on. She then went on to explain why the school had uniforms, how many years of each subject you had to take and the consequences of breaking or losing school property. Basically, it was the Maplestory High School introduction version two, except it came from a different school.

At last, when the introductions and explanations were over, Boss Kumi gave a closing speech.

"Now then everyone, it's your time to showcase your talents and shine as a student and as a person. Now get out there and make new friends, make new memories and most importantly, make history for yourselves!"

Immediately, all of the freshmen came rushing out of the doors. I, on the other hand, fished out my schedule from my bag.

"Let's see…first period I have P.E with Mr. Ika in the gym."

Well, I have absolutely no idea where the gym is and I have nobody to ask for help so…

"Big building near the track, here I come… I just hope I'm right and that's the gym."

* * *

School progressed normally for the rest of the day I guess. I mean, for a first day for a new student, I thought this was a pretty good start to the "new" school year. I didn't get my head smacked on a desk, I made no enemies, but I didn't really make any friends either. After driving me home, mom wasted no time in asking how my first day went.

"So honey, how was school?" she asked.

"It was fine. I was able to find all of my classes without a lot of trouble." I replied.

"**Con co làm bạn không?**" (Did you make any friends?)

"**Không**." (No.)

"**Tại sao** **không?"** (Why not?)

"**Tại vì con không nói chuyện với ai hết." **(Because I didn't talk to anybody)

"**Ai-ya con ơi**, you should be more social! Otherwise you won't have any friends and you'll be lonely for the rest of high school." (Geez honey…)

"Well it's not like I had the chance to be! I was too busy trying to navigate myself around the school!" That wasn't necessarily a lie, Red Leaf High's building orientation was way different compared to Maplestory High's, but I was able figure it out within a day.

Mom just sighed.

"Well, why don't you tell me about your teachers then? What do you think of them?"

"All of them seem like good teachers I guess," I replied, "Mr. Little Dragon teaches History, Ms. Hermoniny teaches Biology, Mr. Ika teaches P.E, Mr. Joe-Joe teaches Algebra 2, and Mr. Nobunaga, the vice principal teaches English. All of them look like they know what they're doing."

Mom nodded her head. "Alright, good. It looks like I placed in a good school."

"Well, I'll take a rest now. Actually, what do you and Rose want to eat? I'll go to the nearest market and buy some ingredients so I can cook dinner later." I said.

Mom stared at me for a couple seconds and then rapidly shook her head. "No, I'll cook later. How does fried rice sound? We still have the ingredients for it in the house, so there's no need to go to the market and waste money."

"That's fine. I'll go take a rest now."

As I headed to my "room", In sat on my bead and slowly rubbed my face.

"_Take a rest? Yeah right. How can I do that when I barely know what's going on? Well, from what I can tell, there's really no way to logically explain what's going on right now. Heck, I'm having trouble getting used to the fact that I'm still here, despite what happened yesterday. My back still hurts, but there are no wounds on my body. Mom is alive, and dad is dead, but Rose is still the same I think. One thing I know for sure is the fact that life with dad was definitely a real experience. I felt the pain of losing mom, of getting hurt, I'm able to recall all of the past experiences. But..."_

I pounded my chest to make sure this wasn't a dream.

"_I can feel everything here too. If that's the case then I can only draw two conclusions; either I as hit in the head so hard that I'm now in a delusional coma or..."_

"Aaron! Don't forget to take out the trash!" mom called.

"_...or the fact that alternate dimensions don't exist is complete BS!"_

"Okay!" I replied.

"_Even so...I don't even know if I should stay here or not. Whether or not this is real."_

**What should I do?**

**1\. Live life here to its fullest. I don't know when I'll come back and I probably might not ever. Besides, it's good enough knowing mom's here. (May introduce new characters to the story, most notably Zero.)**

**2\. Detach myself from this world. These people aren't real, and I have no reason to interact with them.**


	3. Making friends?

**I have no excuses for my lateness except for laziness and playing too much Maplestory. Seriously guys, I am so so sorry! Here's the third chapter of the AU! Here we are introduced to a new OC that I have integrated into the story upon request of one of my reviewers. Requests for OC's are open, but I cannot guarantee that they'll be in the story. With that said, please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

"_Well, there's no point in trying to detach myself from…whatever I'm trying to detach myself from. I don't even know how I can get out of this and whether or not I can. I might as well just live my life to its fullest and adjust as soon as possible. Yeah, that would be a good choice to make. Maybe things will work themselves out later on. I hope…" _I slapped my face and shook it a little to refresh my mind a little bit and then took out the trash.

* * *

Come the next morning, I tried gathering my thoughts.

"_Okay, based on the research from yesterday, the family had a little revamp. Based on the pictures, dad was probably a military doctor and died somehow. Probably an accident. Mom is now the pediatrician of the family. Also, based on everybody's reactions, I'm still pretty much the same person, except mom doesn't know that I cook…or maybe the 'me' that she knew didn't know how to cook…or maybe she forgot that she taught me how to cook altogether. Regardless, I think I'll fit in fine. Nobody's going to suspect me for being different or weird or anything. Great."_

"You're up early today." I saw mom sitting on the table working on some paperwork only sparing me a glance probably only to acknowledge my presence before returning her eyes to her paperwork. The way her pen moved across the paper, the way she crossed her legs.

"_So this is what mom would she like if she were still alive. Well…'alive'."_ It was still a little hard for me to take in. Here was my mom, back after having been gone from my life for eight years and living like she had never been gone at all. I'd believe it in less than a heartbeat if someone said that this was a prank, though I'd still get angry at those whom had set this up.

I guess I stared for a while, because mom looked at me again and spoke.

"**Con bị sao vậy? Tại sao con nhìn mẹ hoài vậy**?" She chuckled. (What's the matter? Why do you keep looking at me?)

I rapidly shook my head. "**Con đâu có nhìn mẹ đâu. Con dang nhìn bánh mì mẹ đang ăn. Nhìn ngon quá." **(I wasn't looking at you. I was looking at the sandwich you were eating. Looks delicious.)

"Oh whatever. **Con muốn ăn gì cho ****ăn sáng****? Để mẹ làm.**" (What do you want to eat for breakfast? I'll make it.)

"**Thôi đi mẹ ơi. Để cho con làm. Con biết lam đồ mà.**" (It's alright. Let me do it. I know how to make it.)

Mom stared at me for a while again.

"…Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yep. Don't worry, it's not like I'm going to light my food on fire or anything. **Mình có bánh mì và chứng không**? I need them for my breakfast." (Do we have bread and eggs?)

Mom stared at me for a while.

"…**Nó trong tủ lạnh**" (They're in the refrigerator)

Throughout the rest of the morning mom looked at me while I fried the eggs, as if she was trying to figure out if I knew what I was doing. After I had finished, she had asked to taste the breakfast. Well, more like "taste". By the time she was done tasting, I only had half of what I wanted to eat for breakfast.

"Is Rose not awake yet?" I asked.

"**Chắc la không đau**. I'm sure we both know how much **Minh Thư **likes to sleep. I'll go wake her up." Mom replied. (Probably not…)

"Alright then. I'll be heading to school. It's not that far from here and I know the route, so I'll be fine walking."

"Not without a kiss."

* * *

After giving mom a kiss and receiving one on the forehead in return, I made my way to school. I rubbed the spot on my forehead where mom had kissed. Although I didn't really mind the hugs and kisses and all, it was a bit embarrassing to be treated the same exact way I was about seven years ago. It was like I was still a kid to her. Oh well, it's good enough to know that she's here.

_But not dad…_

How did this all happen? Everything is so messed up. If dad was here, everything would be so perfect and we would have a complete family.

I shook my head to forget all of those thoughts.

_Enough of this. Nothing I say will bring dad back. I should just be happy that mom is here now and Rose is still here. Yeah…_

I looked around the neighborhood and noticed how similar the houses looked to the ones during my way to Maplestory High. One notable difference was the dedication these houses had for their school. On every house, you could expect to see at least one thing that symbolized Red Leaf High. Flags, car stickers, license plates, posters, all of which had the symbol of Red Leaf High and the quote "_Pillars of Heaven! Go! Go! Go!_" Now here was one proud neighborhood.

Looking up ahead, I saw a familiar face. His pale white skin and piercing eyes made him look like someone I knew well and even the uniform he was wearing looked familiar. No doubt it was Maplestory High's.

_Luminous?_

No…something was different. This guy's hair was jet black in contrast to Luminous's bluish-white, and his both of his eyes were red whereas Luminous only had one red eye. While looking at his face, I shuddered a little. The position of his eyebrows, his eyelids, and almost every other feature of his face seemed to be warning me to stay away from him.

I could try and strike a conversation with him, but based on the look he was giving, doing that was probably not a good idea. He looked as if he wanted to beat me up or something. As I continued on my way and we passed each other, I felt a sharp push on the back of my knee and before I knew it, I fell to the ground.

"Hah what a weakling. Just a simple kick and you're already on the ground. If this is all Red Leaf High has to offer then Maplestory High will easily crush it. Seriously, I don't even know why we consider you rivals." And with that he walked away, the sound of his footsteps fading in the distance.

Before I started to get back up again, I then heard footsteps and turned to my left to face the source. I then saw four people wearing uniforms similar to mine. Immediately after reaching me, one of them, the guy with blonde hair and red eyes, grabbed me by my shoulder.

"Dude! I just saw what happened from way back there! Are you alright?!" he asked as he shook me. Now that I could get a clearer look at the whole group, I saw that there was a girl who shared similar hair and eye color to the guy shaking me, and another guy with spiked up gray hair with a tiny bang and a tail in the back, and a gray-haired girl with a crooked ponytail and long wavy hair that reached down to her lower back.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-Whoa! Yeah! I'm fine. It was just a tiny fall. Nothing serious." I replied to the guy shaking me. After that he stopped.

"You sure? That looked like a pretty hard fall to me!" he said.

"Oh come on Alpha, he said he was fine. Stop getting all over him! Look! He's totally giving the look as if he's trying to say 'you're disgusting and totally creeping me out!'" said the blonde-haired girl in the group.

"Hey! If you guys didn't notice, it was Eclipse who made him fall. Now tell me you guys wouldn't have done the same thing to any other person!"

_So Luminous now has a new name huh? Eclipse…that's kind of fitting given his characteristics._

The girl's analysis of my look I gave made me blink and chuckle a little. For one, I was sure I was giving no such look. Also, the fact that she could totally pull something like that just by looking at my face made me wonder how far her imagination could go. Either that or she was probably trying to help regain my personal space, which I was thankful for, but didn't really need help with.

The spiky-haired guy then walked up and removed Alpha's hands from my shoulder.

"Sorry about that man. Alpha's the type go guy who can sometimes get over concerned for his fellow Red Leaf High students."

"No problem. I mean, personally, I don't think it's a bad thing," I replied. "I'm sure he has many friends."

"You're right he does!" he replied.

For some reason right when he said that the girl with the crooked ponytail rolled her eyes.

"Now are you guys done checking on this guy yet?" she asked. "Stop wasting time. We'll be late for school!"

The blonde-haired guy immediately turned to face her. "Lazuli, don't be rude. As students of Red Leaf High, we must support our fellow classmates whenever they're in trouble."

"Wow, now that's quite some code of honor." I said, "Is this really what Red Leaf High is all about?" If this was true, this meant that there would be many opportunities to make new friends, which I was always excited for.

"Yup. Our principal, or 'boss' Kumi, stresses out the importance of companionship. After all, it's how Red Leaf High was able to be built and have the best staff and all. There's also posters all over the school showing the code. Have you never noticed them?" the blonde-haired girl asked.

"No…actually I just moved into this area. So I'm kinda new to everything here. Sorry for making you guys inform me about all this stuff." I said. Technically, me being new wasn't entirely a lie. Although the neighborhood looked vaguely familiar, the school, the people, mainly the _environment_ was completely different.

"Are you guys seriously still talking to this guy?!" The girl with the crooked tail, who was now quite a distance from us, suddenly started to stomp toward school.

"Well, it looks like it's my cue to leave. But before that, we should at least introduce ourselves first. Hello there new student, I'm Beta. I'm Alpha's younger twin sister and setter for the Red Leaf High volleyball team." She said as she held out her hand.

I shook her hand and introduced myself. "Nice to meet you Beta, I'm Aaron. The new and uninformed transfer student."

Beta giggled and took off to join the girl ahead. "I'll see you later then! Hopefully we have some classes together and you'll be better informed by the end of the day!" As she took off, the two other guys and I started walking towards school too.

"Well, I think it's about time I introduce myself too. I'm Alpha, Beta's _older _twin brother." He said, as he held out his hand.

"Yeah, older twin brother _and _the Red Leaf High's 'Hottest Freshman on Campus'." The gray-haired guy chimed in. "Anyway, I'm Lapis, small forward for Red Leaf High's Varsity Basketball team, and I'm also an older twin brother to my sister, Lazuli, who is part of the Varsity Cheer team and the girl Beta just ran off to catch up to."

"Nice to meet you guys," I said, as I shook both of their hands. "By the way, did something happen earlier? Lazuli seemed to be in a sour mood."

Lapis chuckled. "Oh, that? Lazuli's always like that toward strangers. Well…maybe not strangers but new people that we talk to. She doesn't trust people easily, no matter how friendly they are."

"Well, not really. Lazuli has warmed up to several people before, granted it took a while though." Alpha said.

Lapis laughed a little harder this time. "HAHAHAHA! And by several you mean two, right Alpha? Trust me. Besides us and those other three, NOBODY ever gained her trust."

"Really? What were these two people like? I have a feeling Lazuli really doesn't like me, so I need to get to know these two to get on her good side." I said.

"We'll let you know when we see them." School then came into view and soon we had reached the front entrance. Then, another student with his arms spread wide approached us. Lapis and Alpha walked ahead of me with their hands held high to high-five the guy coming near.

"What the heck happened to you guys? You're late!" he said.

Alpha: Hey Emmie!

Lapis: Sup Emmie!

"Will you guys stop calling me that?! It's Emes, and that's not even my name! It's Joe!" the guy said. Now that I got a better look at him, he looked to be about my height, and seemed to have waxed, shaggy hair. He was also carrying what seemed like two guitar cases.

"Well anyway, who's the new guy?" he asked.

"This here's Aaron! We found him after Eclipse made him trip and fall during his way to school!"

"Whoa really?! Dude are you alright?!" Joe then started to shake me by the shoulders too.

"Yeah I'm fine! It was just a little fall. Maybe a provocation, but that's it." I replied.

"Really? Cool! Eclipse is usually known to be very violent to others so…well enough about that. My name's Joseph Emes, but you can call me Joe." He said, as we shook hands.

Alpha and Lapis: "Or you can call him Emmie."

"No, you can't call me Emmie! First of all, that's a girl's name! Second of all, thanks to you two, almost everybody that we know in the school calls me that! Anyway, the bell's going to ring soon. What class do you have first, Aaron?"

"I have…" I pulled out my schedule to check. Upon looking at the schedule, I realized the class order was almost identical to that of my schedule when I was in Maplestory High. Biology, P.E, History, Math, English, and an elective in that order. Talk about coincidences…

"…Biology with Ms. Hermoninny." I replied.

"Awesome! Me too!" Joe exclaimed. The bell soon rung and it was time for us to head to first period.

"Alright, we'll see you guys later then. We have Mr. Ika for P.E." Lapis and Alpha said, as they headed off to the gym.

"Alrighty! Well, since it's just the two of us, why don't we hurry on to class and since Alpha and Lapis said you are new here, do you have any questions for me regarding this school? Ask away and I guarantee you that I'll have an answer! Well, don't take that guarantee too seriously, but…you know what I mean."

Since I was offered the chance, I asked away.

"Alright then. So would you tell me about the rivalry between us and Maplestory High?" I asked.

"Ah, that's easy. Since you're new here many wouldn't expect you to know a lot, but if you were at the orientation yesterday, you would know that Red Leaf High was built not too long ago, right?"

"Yeah."

"Unlike Red Leaf High, Maplestory High has been around for a long time and has been one of the richest and most successful school in many districts in almost all aspects by a large margin. However, ever since Red Leaf High was built, we've sometimes tied up or come up close second to Maplestory High but never first in many categories, so we've been determined to best them in at last one category. On the other hand, Maplestory High's been trying to keep a large gap between us. Maplestory High also mainly focuses on making students better individually, while Red Leaf High stresses the importance of companionship and camaraderie, which started this whole rivalry thing. That's about it."

Was Maplestory High really like this? I can't remember. I hope this isn't the same Maplestory High that I know though...

"So…let me get this straight. Red Leaf High is more about community and Maplestory High is more about making students stand out individually. Am I right?"

"Yep, basically. It's also because of this that I'd say that Red Leaf High has a better community."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Well if you've already met Alpha then I'm sure you'd already know that Red Leaf High stresses the importance of helping out fellow students. That's also why they gave a survey out to students who had applied. Those who put only educational-based answers to the questions didn't cut it. You also had to put in answers that showed that you were social and helped the staff know that you were interested in helping the community. Since you're here, it's safe to assume you also want to help the community out, right?"

Survey? What survey? I don't remember anything about a survey! But then thinking about it now, I realized I didn't really know anything about how I acted before in this…dimension or whatever this was. I had to play cool and figure things out while doing so.

"Y-yeah."

"So there you go! You're here in Red Leaf High, one of the richest and best schools not just in the entire district, but maybe the entire region. Anything else you'd like to know?"

"So Joe, Lapis and Alpha have told me that you're one of the two people who actually earned Lazuli's trust. You mind telling me how you did that?" I asked.

Joe shuddered so wildly to the point where it looked like he was having a seizure.

"Ugh…usually I'd never talk to anyone about this, but since you asked…why, have you already met Lazuli?" he asked.

"'Met' is one way to put it. She hardly ever acknowledged me. Lapis told me that she's always like that to strangers. Why is that?"

"To be honest, I'm not so sure. She never told me her reasons, but that doesn't matter now since I've already gained her trust. Hopefully that is…"

"So how did you gain her trust?"

Joe then began to scratch his head only to ruffle his hair wildly a few seconds later. Before he could start, however, the bell rang.

"Shoot! Let's hurry man, we can't be late for Ms. Hermoninny's class! You know how strict she is with late students! I'll tell you about it later!"

* * *

It was a good thing we had arrived right when students were still entering the classroom so we could blend in and not make ourselves look late, because as the class progressed, those who had arrived later than us were asked to stay after class for a mini detention, which made them late for their next class and who knew what punishment their next class would give for late students. Smart move, Ms. Hermoninny.

The second day of school kind of passed by quickly. Almost all of the classes taught the exact same things I had learned back at Maplestory High, which made me ahead of the class by a little bit. It was also nice that all of my teachers were different compared to the ones at Maplestory High and each had their own unique personalities, which made the class fun. Another thing that was different was the fact that my elective was no longer Viet, but rather it was to be a teacher's aide. When I looked at my schedule for the first time, I froze for about a second. Right next to the class was the name of the teacher that I would be aiding; WHITE, MAGE. Sure, the last name was different, which meant that the teacher would be a completely different person and not Mage Black, but that didn't mean that the personalities were different either. White wasn't really a reassuring word, much less last name. While walking towards his classroom, I overheard some boys stating that he was the pale student teacher who had the ability to steal girls' love and turn boys to squids in only one day. To me, those seemed to be just groundless rumors.

When I had entered his classroom, I saw a whole bunch of upperclassmen already in their seats. All of them smiled and gave me a wave, which totally boosted my mood and casted away my fear. In return, I waved back and stood by what looked like the teacher's desk. Soon enough, before the second bell rang signaling for the class to start, someone else walked in.

_LUMINOUS?! _

Was my first impression.

Upon closer inspection, despite his bluish-silvery hair, both of his eyes were blue and looked more relaxed and he sported a stronger frame, almost like dad. When he introduced himself, he even sounded like an older version of Luminous!

"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Mr. White…"

He graduated from Aurora University along with Ms. Hermoninny, one of the most prestigious academies in the world, when he was only sixteen years old and she was fourteen, and had recently just finished his teacher training. This was his first year on the job. He seemed to be a really cool person, based on the tone of his voice. For some reason, I felt my insides dry up, as if I was being salted, like a squid. It was then that I sort of understood what the upper classmen were talking about. His presence kind of made that of all the other students inferior, especially me, the student aide.

Upon entering the classroom for the second time, most of the upperclassmen, mainly the girls, were looking at the mirrors they held, trying to fix themselves up, while the boys for some reason looked all slumped, almost like squids.

Soon enough, Mr. White entered the room and immediately, in sync, all of the girls stood up.

"Good afternoon, Mr. White!" they greeted, in unison. The boys said nothing and sulked.

"Good afternoon, everyone." he greeted back "Full of energy aren't we?"

"Hello Aaron," Mr. White said, as he came up to me and handed me a sheet of paper, "Here's a worksheet that I plan on giving to my AP Chemistry class on Thursday. You think you could take this to the copy machine and print about seventy copies? That's all I'll need you to do for today." he asked.

"Sure." I took the sheet to the copy machine, inserted it, and entered the desired number of copies in and let the machine to its work. Mr. White taught two AP science classes: Chemistry and Biology. I was the aide for his Biology class. It was only the second day of class, so Mr. White was explaining the curriculum of the class and his own grading scale, since it was an advanced class, he also included curves, although told the class to not expect one after every lab or test. By the time that was over, he wasted no time in showing the class a PowerPoint on the first chapter of the textbook, which was on Biochemistry, while giving a lecture. Since I didn't know anything about the subject, and neither Mr. Grendel nor Ms. Hermoninny had gone into detail about the subject, I didn't really pay attention to the class. By the time the lecture was over, Mr. White handed everyone a reference sheet that contained several facts about the subject, including me.

"For your future reference, Aaron. Just in case you decide to take my class." He laughed.

* * *

After class was over, I walked to my locker and grabbed all of the books necessary to do my homework.

"Yo, Aaron!" I turned and saw Joe and Alpha running towards me.

"So how'd you like your second day of school?" Alpha asked.

"What kind of question is that? Of course he enjoyed it! Thanks to my guidance, it was so much better than the first, right Aaron?"

"Meh, more or less. I already kind of knew my way around already. Besides, all you did was answer one question. I could've more or less figured it out on my own. You didn't even answer my second question yet!"

Alpha's eyes lit up. "Oh? Second question? What did you ask him?"

"I asked him how he earned Lazuli's trust."

"Really?! HAHAHA! Aw man, that was hilarious! Let me tell you EVERYTHING that happened! First-mmmmphrgh!"

Joe clamped a hand over Alpha's mouth. "No, no. I'LL be the one to tell him…that is when I'm ready. Is that alright with you, man?" he asked me.

"I guess I could wait. Well, actually it depends on how long you take to get ready. My patience isn't unlimited, and I really want to know because for some reason Lazuli doesn't seem to like me."

"I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, ***CLAP*** today we're celebrating our acceptance to a new school! And a good one at that! So we'll be having an after school hangout! Aaron, as a new friend of ours, you should totally come!"

Friends already, huh? I have a feeling we'll get along well. But…

"Are you sure? I don't know…I mean, I just met you guys and-"

"Naw, don't sweat it man. You're one of us now. You know you're one of us when you've walked side-by-side with us before."

"Hmm…"

_**How should I respond?**_

**1\. Sure, let's go! I'll text my mom right now. I'm sure she wouldn't mind.**

**2\. Sorry guys, I have to go home. Got stuff to do. Maybe next time?**

**Like the last chapter, the decision is up to you readers. Let me know in the reviews!**


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